Towards synchrotron-based nanocharacterization

The advent of 3rd generation synchrotron sources coupled with high efficiency x-ray focusing optics opened new nanocharacterization possibilities. This paper is an overview of synchrotron-based techniques that may be of interest for nanotechnology researchers. Although not exhaustive, it includes a general background of synchrotron principle and main x-ray interactions before addressing nanoimaging possibilities. Three-dimensional (3D) hard x-ray multimodal tomography is now doable that allows producing 3D morphological, chemical and crystalline images with a sub-l00nm resolution. Although the resolution is still limited with respect to electron imaging, it presents attractive features like depth resolution and non-destructive exam. Besides imaging, diffraction also allows strain determination within microstructures and is illustrated here on l00nm copper lines. Surface analysis is illustrated through X-ray Photoelectron Emission Microscopy (XPEEM).